Conservative MP gets basic facts about Irish political situation wrong live on the BBC

He mustn't have been following events over here this week.

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg suggested on Sunday that Ireland’s position on Brexit is being influenced by a no-confidence motion that never took place in a Tánaiste who resigned last Tuesday. In an interview on The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One on Sunday Morning, Rees-Mogg intimated that Ireland’s position on Brexit was being driven “by a no-confidence motion in the deputy prime minister, an election and the threat of Sinn Fein”. Rees-Mogg was referring to a no-confidence motion in former Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald, which was prevented by Fitzgerald resigning from the position on Tuesday, five days ago. In fact, Fitzgerald’s replacement as Tánaiste, Simon Coveney, appeared on the very same show as Rees-Mogg on Sunday morning, telling host Andrew Marr that Ireland had no desire to use a veto over the issue of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland ahead of a crucial EU summit this month. https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/937256910469734400 “We believe that, as an island, Ireland is uniquely vulnerable and exposed to a potential bad outcome from Brexit and that is why we are looking for more progress than we have in terms of understanding how the border issues in particular on the island of Ireland and the north/south co-operation that has created a normality on the island of Ireland, which is a hugely positive thing, instead of the border actually dividing people like it has in the past,” Coveney said. “The border actually brings people together now.”